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Electrocatalytic Properties of Co Nanoconical Structured Electrode Produced by One-Step and Two-Step Method
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1  AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow

Published: 09 November 2020 by MDPI in The 1st International Electronic Conference on Catalysis Sciences session Posters
Abstract:

One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, such as nanotubes, nanopores, nanodots and nanocones, are characterised by better catalytic properties than bulk material due to their large active surface area and small geometrical size. There are several methods of synthesis these structures, including the the one- and two-step methods. In the one-step method, a crystal modifier are added to the solution in order to limit horizontal direction of structures growing during electrodeposition. This method allows to fabricate nanocones without using chromic acid, which is dangerous for the environment. In this work, cobalt nanoconical structures were obtained from an electrolyte containing CoCl2, H3BO3 and NH4Cl as the crystal modifier.Another way of production of 1D nanocones is electrodeposition of metal into porous anodic alumina oxide (AAO) templates. This method is called the two-step method. It allows to control the geometrical features of nanostructures due to the features of used template. In this case, AAO template was obtained using two-step anodization. Then, electrodeposition of cobalt was performed from an electrolyte containing CoSO4, H3BO3 and SDS. To obtain free standing nanocones the template has to be removed by immersion into dilute NaOH solution.

For determination of catalytic activity of synthesized material hydrogen evolution process have been chosen. The electrocatalytic properties of materials fabricated in one-step and two-step method were measured in 1M NaOH and compared with bulk materials. The microscopic pictures of material before and after hydrogen evolution will be searched and compare in order to detect any degradation of material surface morphology.

Keywords: 1D nanocones; cobalt; electodeposition; hydrogen evolution reaction; anodization; crystal modifier
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